Freely TV

Stu999 said:
Interesting. I don't get why it's not an app rather than having to be accessed through the "TV's interface" (whatever that means).
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It is baked into the TV EPG, by default, the TV will show channels over IP instead of aerial.

You will be surprised the number of people who buy a TV, connect to WiFi and say "why no channels".

Personally, we have no aerial in the house.
 
I like the idea of more channels and more HD (or even 4K) channels, but the lack of recording and the fact that it’s only available built into TVs make it a non-starter for me, as I watch TV on a projector and record everything I watch rather than watching live (and have done since I first got TiVo in about 1999/2000.

If someone releases a standalone PVR type box for it though I’d be interested (especially if it was a TiVo based box now that Virgin Media are dropping their TiVo boxes). If that doesn’t happen then can at least hope some enterprising individual releases some software to allow recording of it.
 
Gimpymoo said:
No option to skip adverts which I suppose is the whole point from the broadcasters point of view.
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no chance, ITV even try to charge you £5.99 a month now to access some of the content and call it "premium"

i expect many of the other "free" TV will go like this in the future. The only free stuff will be rubbish old stuff.
 
Stu999 said:
Freely website has been updated. Hisense are the first TVs with Freely built in.

Where to Buy Freely

The nation's favourite shows all in one place. Stream live and on demand TV, all for for free. Discover how to get Freely today.
www.freely.co.uk www.freely.co.uk
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Some quite meaty cashback and nectar points offers also!

When I checked last week I couldn't find stock aside from the top model (£1200)
 
More TVs listed now including Bush, Toshiba, Panasonic and the Hisense ones that were already known about.

www.freely.co.uk

Products

www.freely.co.uk www.freely.co.uk

I haven’t seen much coverage of it being launched yet or people using it.
 
Stu999 said:
More TVs listed now including Bush, Toshiba, Panasonic and the Hisense ones that were already known about.

www.freely.co.uk

Products

www.freely.co.uk www.freely.co.uk

I haven’t seen much coverage of it being launched yet or people using it.
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Because the implementation is balls.

Should be an app for external devices like Roku, Android etc.

Instead, just a marketing scam for new TVs.
 
Gimpymoo said:
Because the implementation is balls.

Should be an app for external devices like Roku, Android etc.

Instead, just a marketing scam for new TVs.
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Stu999 said:
I agree with that. I suppose they’re probably too worried about it being easy for people overseas to access it if that was the case.
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The entire platform is built around TVs, meaning it relies on a channel list, method of changing channel by number, etc. It leans on those paradigms in terms of how to interface with the device and generate the EPG.

I don't think Roku sticks and Android boxes support that kind of behaviour do they? Effectively having a TV tuner application embedded.

For now at least it's built as a TV integration. Whether it gets developed into a general player app for various IP streams would be down the road a bit.
 
Stu999 said:
They could at least do a set top box though?
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I think that's the best solution yeah. In the same way as the Freeview box solved a lot of the "You need to buy a new TV when we go digital" issues. I think a decent, affordable STB product would be the ideal solution for moving to IP channels.

Full disclosure in case I haven't mentioned in this thread, I work for the company!
 
LuckyBenski said:
The entire platform is built around TVs, meaning it relies on a channel list, method of changing channel by number, etc. It leans on those paradigms in terms of how to interface with the device and generate the EPG.

I don't think Roku sticks and Android boxes support that kind of behaviour do they? Effectively having a TV tuner application embedded.

For now at least it's built as a TV integration. Whether it gets developed into a general player app for various IP streams would be down the road a bit.
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NOW TV application does exactly that as do many others, the requirement to be embedded into the TV ecosystem is a commercial one and anti consumer in my opinion.

This could have extended linear broadcast television but is just another gunshot at the swinging carcass.

Consumers like "apps", this Freely setup is a generation or two late in my opinion.

Consumers in 2024 just wanted a single place to view live TV instead of multiple apps. How this seemed a "good idea" is beyond me.
 
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Stu999 said:
Oh cool. Must be a good time to be there and launching the product.
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Honestly my feet haven't touched the ground in a year! It's certainly been a big endeavour, developing a new platform and getting it off the ground. Lots of challenges and compromises much in line with gimpymoo's comments really.

Gimpymoo said:
Consumers like "apps", this Freely setup is a generation or two late in my opinion.
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I think this is pretty pertinent yeah. Freely is the natural evolution of the traditional linear TV concept, so it's still built around the live channel list and EPG as ways of discovering content. That is what's limiting it to "TV type devices" and makes it hard to develop as an app. There are complexities around who generates the IP streams from the broadcast channels, who is responsible for encoding, hosting, distributing etc. Many consumers like apps and the social media feedback highlights that, but it would have been a very different (and actually more complicated) ask to do so. Freely piggybacks on existing TV functions whereas apps are just there to play video streams.
 
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